Side nerding: I had to call Chewy.com‘s customer service line over the weekend, having not received an order as expected, and the agent I spoke with asked about my cat Rivendell, and we went on to have a 15 minute conversation about our love for the stories and what collectables we each have while he researched my order. PS: Chewy has excellent customer service, they are sending me a second bag of food for free.

I love the movies, and will happily endure all ribbing for the “why didn’t they just get the Eagles to fly to Mount Doom??” and “it’s a year of them WALKING!” – don’t care, I loved it all. I even enjoyed The Hobbit films, for all their flaws.

Warner Bros. Television and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien are in talks with Amazon Studios to develop a series based on the late author’s “The Lord of the Rings” novels. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is said by sources with knowledge of the situation to be personally involved in the negotiations, which are still in very early stages. No deal has been set.

Do I want to see more epic battles? HELLS YEAH!

Do I want to see more Aragorn and Gandalf? OH HELLS YEAH!

Anxious Frodo is anxious.

Do I want to see it turn into Game of Thrones, Middle Earth? NOOOOOOOOOOO.

Unfortunately there isn’t much information to go on right now, so we’ll just have to wait and see. My fingers are crossed that if they do seal a deal, the product will be much better than what I fear it may be.

The Good:

WoW always needs to be doing something new. It’s no secret that players consume new content at faster and faster rates. Adding new races is always a fun thing because it shakes up the aesthetics and gives new storylines to explore.

From the video, it looks like they are going back to a more classic Alliance vs. Horde feel, rather than the more integrated blurred lines we started seeing when we got to Shattrath. This is bound to make a lot of people happily battleshout “FOR THE *faction preference*!”

The Bad:

No “new” races – I’m not overly impressed with the races offered. They are offshoots of already established races, as opposed to the brand new feel we got when they introduced the Space Goats (aka Draenei).

Back to faction warring – I know a lot of people will love the Alliance/Horde feuding, but I was honestly loving the interaction with opposite factions when fighting against the Fel armies etc. More often than not, when out questing and running into another player of the opposite faction, it was a polite encounter, with us helping each other out.

The Suggestions:

New customizations – Rather than these new races, make the current races we have a lot more customizable. As I saw in some WoW group, someone described their original race hairstyles as from the 90s, and it’s not a lie – my human and elf toons haven’t had a good style in ages (yet my awesome human rogue got a graphics facelift into something more cartoony, which I am still bitter about).

Also, I don’t understand why the Horde is getting the Nightborne and Alliance are getting Void Elves. Night elves should get Nightborne customizations and Blood Elves should get Void Elf customizations.

Add Learn Common Language – As for the Alliance/Horde feud, I suppose it’s inevitable, but I was hoping again for a third group again, that would force an alliance between the groups. I’d always thought how cool it would be to have the ability to learn the common language of the other faction in order to communicate, and even be able to group up for dungeons and raids with the other side. Maybe someday!

It goes without saying that Hopper is one of the most beloved characters of Stranger Things, despite clearly having a lot of very normal character flaws. But judging from his castmates, they’re all wanting more screen time with him.

But scratch the surface just a bit and you’ll find he’s got a hilarious instagram account, where he pokes fun at Joe Keery (Steve Harrington) for “stealing his hair”:

Not only that, but he agreed to pose with someone for their senior pictures if they got 25K retweets – well, guess what…

Have you seen one of the Cutest Ideas Ever™? They are the Guest Wifi Signs of Pinterest. Some can be kind of clever, but for the most part they just aren’t my STYLE.

However, I do see a huge advantage to having a WiFi login just for visitors. It does allow to partition off your personal devices, not that your friends will intentionally go snooping. But perhaps someone in the house has work files or access through their desktop to other more sensitive job networks, and with the amount of hacking going on, it’s just an added security measure.

So what does one do when they want to offer their guests the login but want to make it reflect their personality? GO GEEKY!

This was a super easy, very inexpensive DIY that I was able to do in about 10 minutes once I had all the elements in hand. Want to do something similar? Here’s what I did:

The Fandom

So many to choose from, only one guest login! I will list some other ideas I had at the end of this post (including Lord of the Rings, Supernatural, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Firefly and Game of Thrones), but I decided to go with Harry Potter theme for now. I thought the Connecto Patronum network name was really great, but I also considered:

Hogwarts Express WiFi

Professor McGonagall’s Office

Hogsmeade

Shrieking Shack

Ministry of Magic

Because this is such a cheap and easy thing, I can change it whenever I get bored! So the first thing I did was look for the decals.

The Decals

WARNING: I first ordered what I believed were decals from Amazon, which I thought fit perfectly, however it turned out that they were only stickers (despite the product descriptions) and I was not as happy with the finished project. So be VERY careful when you purchase decals, make sure the design or letters TRANSFER to whatever you are putting them on.

Because Amazon surprisingly let me down on this one, I found a small online company that just does car decals, and though the decals are perfect for car windows, they are a bit larger than I originally intended and needed to modify them to work with the frame I had purchased along with the first set of stickers. But these are the decals I got in BLACK MATTE (but they have almost any color you could want!):

I found they have a lot of great Harry Potter things, but if you have a special request, they can help you so just contact them!

The Frame

I wanted something with a thick mat because I knew I wanted the decals around the network information, and found this picture frame with a 5″ picture and 4″ frame for $13.99.

Amazon didn’t let me down with that one 😉

The Fonts

For the Network and WiFi information, I wanted to stick to the Harry Potter theme and use appropriate fonts, so I found and downloaded the Lumos font and the Caslon Antique font, which I found to be great for this project.

You may also like this Harry P font which is the classic lighting bolt font, I just decided not to use it this time around.

Once your fonts are downloaded, for Windows users go to the font file via Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Fonts – they should then be visible in in any word processing program you use.

From there it was just a matter of making sure the printout fit the 5×5 picture opening of the mat – for reference, I used Lumos at font size 36 and Caslon Antique at size 32, but I did adjust the line spacing to make it what I wanted.

The Assembly

Here is how the decals arrived, with a white backing, the decal and a clear top transfer sticker:

Trimming – The wand and the very low-swooping “p” pushed the overall decal outside the visible mat area of the picture frame, so I decided to CAREFULLY trim off the wand and use that as a separate element. Additionally, the Mischief Managed decal was quite large, so I EVEN MORE CAREFULLY cut that so the words were separated.

Cleaning – I took the frame apart and cleaned the glass (pro tip: use glass cleaner and newspaper to clean, it will leave it streak-free!). Then, on a flat surface, I placed the mat, then the glass, then the frame itself. I did this so I could visually see where the decals would best be positioned.

Application – I then peeled the backing off the decals and gently laid them onto the clean glass, being sure to only touch the clear transfer sticker – I find it’s best to get the positioning right about a half inch from the glass, then bend the transfer slightly so it starts sticking in the middle and work your way out. This will cut down on any air bubbles.

Pressing – Once the decals were down, I removed the frame just to get it out of the way, and used a credit card to gently but firmly press the decals onto the glass to get them to stick better.

Peeling – I then picked up the corner of a transfer sticker and gently peeled it off. If you’ve pressed firmly enough, the decal should remain on the glass. You may find, as I did, that one or two places sticks to the transfer rather than the glass, just put it back down and try re-pressing, or coming at the peel-off from the opposite direction.

So yeah, we gorged ourselves on the second season of Stranger Things last night and wrapped up around 1:40am. I’m not proud of this. I’m old now and need more coffee, but I figure it’s time to do a short recap avoiding spoilers.

I never thought I would think a Demogorgon was “cute” – it’s true, despite it being what it was, I couldn’t help myself.

Hello, you adorable evil thing!

There was an “IF SO-AND-SO DIES, WE RIOT” moment – because of course we have to have one.

Daryl wasn’t in this one, so he was safe.

Eleven is SUCH a 14 year old! It’s no secret she’s already developmentally stunted due to her captivity, pile on the hormones and the face she makes in all the promotional material is pretty much her…

Reminds me of my own “I will cut a bitch” face when I was a teen.

There’s quite a lot more, but I fear anything else would indeed be too much of a spoiler, so I’ll leave it for now so everyone can get in on the fun of the new season. Overall, a solid second season with enough loose ends to pick at a third season easily! Remember, if you decide to throw a viewing party, I posted up quick, cheap and easy ideas to get your party going!

Anyone who loved the first season of Stranger Things knows that Season Two was released on Netflix today! I’ve been reminded of this about 3 times a week for several weeks now by my son, who watched the first season at least 10 times. So what is the only rational thing to do on an occasion such as this? Throw a last minute binge party!

Being last minute means not a lot of time to prepare, create, sew, draw, etc. And the point is that you are watching the actual SHOW, not spending hours preparing for a typical social event. So for this, let’s stick with the bare bones ideas: snacks, drinks and a comfy place to watch the show for several hours.

SNACKS:

Ok folks let’s get real. This is no time learn how to make – or hire a professional cookie maker to create – wonderful treats like these no matter how awesome they are:

These are great, but mine would look like a hot mess or cost me $400 to have made. MOVING ON! (PS: Will happily give credit to whoever created these but I can’t find original source)

So what will you serve your fellow Stranger Things Fanatics? A quick trip to the store can net plenty of great snacks that were available back in the last 1970s-early 1980s, so stick with those! Starting with:

EGGOS, of course! Create a waffle bar, where people can toast up some Eggos and create their own fun treats! Topping could include:

chocolate chips

berries

whipped cream/Cool Whip

peanut butter

caramel syrup

ice cream

sprinkles

But check it out, even Eggo is getting into the Stranger Things action, go to their website and download a 1984 label you can put on a modern box!

Of course one cannot live on Eggos alone, so you could also grab some:

Pop Rocks

Twinkies

Devil Dogs

Jello Pudding Pops

pretzels

Doritos!

DRINKS:

Of course you have to have drinks you can get today that were around in the early 80s, but if you can grab a couple of pitchers (Tupperware pitchers get bonus points!), then fill them with Hi-C fruit drinks (add vodka or rum to make them even better!) – if you’re feeling creative, do something like this:

Love this! Also can’t find who to credit for this idea either, but they rock!

If you want some sodas, pick up some:

TAB (classic!)

7-Up

Coke

Pepsi… if you can find any “Crystal” versions, I bow to you!

(add vodka or rum to make your sodas even better!)

DECORATIONS:

Now is not the time for overly fancy decorations, but if you want a quick and easy project that shouldn’t take too long, just do this:

From the store: grab a huge black Sharpie marker, a plain white shower curtain or plastic table cloth and a set of Christmas lights (if you don’t already have some at home, you KNOW the stores are already putting that stuff out)

At home: Tape the curtain to your wall and string up the lights in 3 rows. Then under each light, draw out each letter, like so:

Bonus points for finding a shower curtain that matches her wallpaper!

THAT’S IT! That’s all you need to make a great party with minimal effort and maximum fun while you watch the new season with your best mates. Now… RUN!

No I WON’T acknowledge that there are two more Matrix films. Only one exists. The others are figments of all your imaginations.

Doctor Who also denies. Trust him, he’s a Time Lord.

And I’ve seen almost all the “making of”s, watching many interviews with the Wachowskis and the actors, but one thing I did NOT know was what the rain code meant. I assumed it was a stylistic designs that really didn’t mean much at all.

WRONG!

According to Simon Whiteley, a Production and Concept designer who created the code for the movie, it’s actually sushi recipes from his wife’s Japanese cookbook. That’s right, the Matrix code is sushi!

I’m so thrilled for them! After all the hardships they have been enduring, it’s wonderful to see some good news from there. Read the original article here at NPR.

Weeks after Tesla founder Elon Musk and Gov. Ricardo Rossello spoke about the tech company aiding Puerto Rico, Tesla says it has restored electricity to a children’s hospital, using solar energy and batteries.- Tesla

I am a Tesla fanatic, I won’t lie. When I had the chance to pick up a handful of stock, I got a total of 7 for a decent price and have been sitting on them for years. I am not sure if or when I will ever sell them.

Is Elon Musk the second coming? Of course not, he’s a human with good traits and character flaws. But I do appreciate his innovations during a time of stunted growth in the US. We used to invent things, we used to build things, and he is one of a dying breed who actually still do.

In addition to the Tesla Powerwall, I am really excited to see the long term reliability of their Solar Roof. I would love to disconnect from the electric grid and just use solar energy, and to have a roof that looks just like any other so it blends in? What a bonus! Look how gorgeous these tiles are: